Clyde excels at state

Clyde earns state runner-up honors in two events

Gladstone sophomore Sarah Clyde earned runner-up honors in two events at last weekends Class 4A/3A/2A/1A State Swimming Championships, held at Mt. Hood Community College.

Clyde turned in a 5:21.89 clocking in the 500-yard freestyle (5:21.89), finishing second only to North Bend freshman Cassie Dallas (5:17.12).

And Clyde raced to a 1:01.26 clocking to earn runner-up honors in the 100-butterfly (1:01.26), finishing back of Cascade Christian junior Breanna Sapienza (55.32), who holds the state record in the event.

Clyde placed first at state in the 500-freestyle last year with a time of 5:14.03; and she placed second in the state in the 100-yard butterfly in 2012, completing that race in 59.21.

Clyde qualified for this years state meet by breezing to first place in the 100-yard butterfly and in the 500-yard freestyle at the recent 10-team District 2 Swimming Championships, held in La Grande.

Clyde outclassed the field in both events, winning the butterfly by over two seconds in 1:01.80; and winning the 500-freestyle by more than eight seconds, with a 5:33.54 clocking.

Clyde also teamed up with seniors Annaliese Hernandez and Madison Wease, and junior Abbi Burden to race to a state qualifying time of 4:13.12 in the 400-yard freestyle relay, good for sixth place at the district meet.

La Salle Prep boys did themselves proud at the Class 4A/3A/2A/1A State Championships, finishing in the top five in four events and placing sixth in the team standings.

Sophomore Grant Gooding headed up the effort for the Falcons, finishing runner-up to Cottage Grove junior Caleb Leczel (1:01.00) with a time of 1:02.15 in the 100-yard breast stroke, placing fourth in the 500-freestyle with a 4:58.24 clocking, and helping pace La Salle 200-medley (1:49.29) and 400-freestyle (3:36.89) relay teams to top five finishes.

The Falcon team of Gooding, freshman Keenan Robinson, junior Chase Smith and senior Ian Robinson placed fourth in the 200-medley relay, and the team of Gooding, the Robinsons and senior Nolan Bollier placed fifth in the 400-freestyle relay.

The Falcons also got a strong performance from sophomore Michelle Marin, who earned fifth place in the girls 100-breast stroke (1:13.79).